Swiss surrealist passes away

According to Swiss television, Giger died on Monday from injuries obtained after a fall.

Giger was celebrated for his beautiful, nightmarish 'biological horror' visuals, which explored the relationship between machines and the human body.

His first book, Necronomicon , was published in 1977, and was handed to a young Ridley Scott when the director was working on the pre-production of Alien .

"I nearly fell off the desk," Ridley said back in '79 of first seeing Giger's work.

"There are a lot of artists in this area of surrealism and Giger has an extra quality... of reality, combined with his own form of fantasy. That's what makes it stronger; the reality, not the fantasy."

As well as his work on the Alien movies, Giger also contributed the infamous Vomit Creature to Poltergeist II: The Other Side , as well as the sexy alien in Species . He also designed an unused version of the Batmobile for Batman Forever .

Giger's designs were always intricate, unique and beautiful, the best kind of gothic. He'll be greatly missed.